The Prince's Winter
by idreamedacastle
Summary: AU: Mary has to get her brother Jack back after he is struck by a shard from an enchanted mirror and leaves the kingdom in an eternal winter as he isolates himself. She'll have to get help from a group of protectors called the Guardians while avoiding the shadows that lurk all around.
1. Chapter 1

Many years ago, when the stars shined bright with the glory of a long-past Golden Age, there was a mirror. This mirror was wicked and forged from the harsh coldness of the shadows. In this looking glass, nothing good could be seen through them. It showed only the worst parts of anything. The world in the looking glass was distorted and horrible. The mirror was in the possession of Nightmare creatures called Fearlings. They used this mirror to terrorize the people of the Golden Age. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the cursed looking glass was destroyed. The shards of the mirror became scattered throughout a planet called Earth as the Golden Age ended in an explosion of light and darkness

However, the mirror's horrifying abilities still worked though it was shattered. The shards came in sizes ranging from a few inches to a speck of sand. The mirror looked like any other piece of glass, so there was no way anyone could tell that the shards were enchanted. The shards would be used in just about everything- mirrors, glasses, windows, and more. Those looking through them would see the dreadful, distorted world with nothing good in them. It was rather terrible. Of course, there was a worse fate for those who had the cursed fragments struck in their hearts.

They would no longer see the wonder in the world, dream of fantastic stories, remember the good times, or have hope in a better tomorrow. Instead, they'd see a nightmare of their world. Their hearts would become cold and made of ice.

This is the story of a chain of events that were caused by one of the wicked shards.

This is the story of the Eternal Winter and the Ice Prince

* * *

In the Kingdom of Tanglewood, there lived a brother and a sister. These siblings were the Prince and Princess- Jackson and Mary Overland. Jackson and Mary were as close as siblings could be. In Mary's eyes, her brother was the best one in the whole world, she couldn't have asked for a better one. Jackson was next in line for the throne; only he wasn't interested in growing up and taking up the duties of a king. Unlike most parents, his understood and didn't pressure him into giving up childhood too soon.

Jackson Overland was a fifteen year old trickster who spent his time messing around and playing with the children of the Kingdom instead of studying and learning how to be a proper king for when he grew up. His outgoing and upbeat personality lit up an entire room with joy and laughs. He loved games and ignoring responsibilities. However, that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy his time alone in his room drawing or reading.

Mary Overland was a twelve year old girl who although had a cheerful personality like her brother, was more reserved. She was more comfortable being with her brother and close friends instead of being in a big crowd. That doesn't mean that she wasn't a trickster like her brother, he taught her all of his best tricks. Together, the Overland Siblings would play tricks on anyone in the kingdom that would bring their attention to them.

It was a nice life, living in the Castle of Tanglewood. Everything was peaceful, there were no nightmares, only blissful dreams. The creatures called Fearlings were rarely ever seen inside the kingdom's walls. The children told stories of Guardians that would protect them and the kingdom, but adults would shrug them off as them having amazing imaginations. It was only a few weeks into Winter and everyone was excited for the spectacular lights, presents, and snow. It was like they were living in a dream were there was never anything bad.

The dream of that life would soon shatter like the cursed mirror all those years ago.

It started out as a regular day, Mary and her parents were sitting down in the ponderous dining room that was obviously too large for a family of four. As usual, Jackson was absent. Their father, Nathaniel, awkwardly cleared his throat to disrupt the silence in the room. He started talking about random news and observations in a sad attempt to get his wife and daughter to end the deafening silence that seemed to go on forever. Mary let out a small laugh as the King continued to try to get a conversation started.

Suddenly, the massive doors that reached almost up to the ceiling opened and Jackson stumbled into the dining room. The King and Queen could tell that their son stayed up late by the way he flopped into his seat and stared at the empty plate, not even attempting to put food on it. The Queen, Lydia, waved her hand in front of her son's face in an almost comical attempt to get his attention. His mumbled "hmm?" was the only answer she received, but it meant that he was paying attention to her.

"Jack? Are you alright?" Lydia said in a somewhat gentle tone, making sure that she wouldn't give the impression that she was angered with her son.

Jack took a quick glance at her and then back at the still empty plate in front of him. "Hmm? Yeah, 'm fine. "

Lydia wanted to press him for more of an answer of that, but didn't push it, It was still early in the morning. So instead, she pursed her lips in slight annoyance. Only to focus her attention to her own food instead a few minutes later when a drowsy Jack started to put food on his plate. Nathaniel on the other hand, tried yet again to strike up a conversation now that the whole family was in the room, "So, Jackson, what did you stay up doing? I definitely know that you weren't studying."

Jack seemed to wake up from his lethargic trance and quickly became the Jackson that his family knew, "Well _duh_, of course not! But you see, I'm telling you, I'm _this_ close to finding out some of the secrets of the kingdom's history." Jack continued to ramble on about how he discovered some old texts about the history of mythical cities and some strange time period called the Golden Age.

Nathaniel's smiling face turned into one of concern. "Son, I'm telling you, some things are just not supposed to be solved. I'm not telling you to stop, I'm just saying that I'm worried that things might go to far."

Jack brushed the words off with a wave of his hand, "Dad, don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna get assassinated or something for reading things that are probably not even real." He shrugged before eating from his plate.

The rest of the breakfast continued normally, with Jack and Nathaniel making jokes at and playfully insulting one another. The royal family told each other fairytales they all knew by heart and news that they heard around the kingdom.

"Jack! Come on, let's go! You promised!" Mary was practically bouncing with excitement as she held her brother's hand. Every year since she could walk, Jack always took her to play in the snow and go ice skating on the nearby lake. Of course, her brother agreed with no hesitation. Recently, they both had been too cooped up with their education and haven't had a chance to 'properly' (as Jack complained to their parents) play and enjoy a day in the snow.

"Be careful!" Lydia warned her children as Mary was slowly pulling Jack towards the door.

"Don't worry, we will!" Jack shouted as Mary broke off into a sprint, dragging him along with her.

* * *

"Mary. Mary. Hey. Y-you're…. you're gonna be fine. We're gonna have a little fun instead!"

Panic reflected in both of the siblings eyes. The shadows loved it. They could feel the fear and desired it.

"No we're not!"

"Would I play tricks on you?"

"Yes! You always play tricks!"

"Y-yeah…? well….. not this time."

…

The living shadows wrapped their wisps around the Prince's ankles.

One readied the shard to stab through the Prince's chest.

…

Jack breathes a sigh of relief. He then smiled brightly at his sister. She was safe. He was safe. Everything was going to be okay.

But then everything went dark.

…

"JACK!"

…

…

…

Darkness. It was dark. And it was cold. And he was scared. He could faintly hear someone shrieking his name. He couldn't move, either he was already dead or frozen, or… there was something alive holding him down. He couldn't see anything except for moving shadows- wait. _Moving_ shadows. His fear grew but as it did so did the shadows. Everything was too dark and it was too cold and suddenly he felt a pain in his chest. Right where his heart was. It felt like something was digging into his chest and ripping it apart from the inside. It hurt. He wanted it to stop. It hurt too much and he felt like he was going to die. Time seemed to stand still in his moment of terror and he could no longer hear the wailing above him. The pounding of his heart was rapidly growing louder

and then

he didn't feel anything anymore.

…

…

…

Mary's screams alerted the guards around the entrance to the lake. When they approached the rim of the lake, they could see Mary… but no Jack. Panic flooded into them as they noticed the hole in the ice a few feet away from the princess.

"Princess Mary!" the taller of the two guards, William, called out. "Mary please get over here!"

"Jack fell through the ice, he fell through, it's all my fault!" the girl continued to cry and scream over her brother. He was her best friend and her role model and now he was going to die because of her.

The shorter guard hastily ran over to where Mary was, careful to avoid any other cracks that might be on the surface of the frozen lake. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to safety. He pulled her into a reassuring hug in an attempt to comfort her. But he failed; she continued to cry out about her brother.

William went on his stomach to crawl towards the space where thin ice used to be. He hoped that they could avoid the worst outcome. As he reached the hole, the guard forced his arm to reach into it and ignore the cold. He couldn't feel anything aside from the numbness starting to spread through his arm. Finally, after what was too long even though it was only minutes, he arm felt something solid. He gripped his hand tight and pulled.

The body was unconscious, but once William was back on the shore of the frozen lake, he could feel a thin pulse. Both guards sighed in relief while Mary's stifled cries grew into piercing cries as she ran and held onto her brother's unconscious body.

Jack was never the same after that day.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: sooo yeah thanks guys for liking the story and stuff :) if it's totally not that obvious this is an AU based on The Snow Queen/Frozen with some other stuff that'll relate to the GoC books... I feel like this chapter is kinda slow but hopefully things will pick up when I get done with information and stuff and finally get to the plot.

* * *

A few days after the ice skating incident, Jack still wasn't awake. The kingdom was filled with grief and the halls of the castle felt empty without the Prince running through the halls or playing pranks and games with everyone that resided in it. His family was devastated, but none more than Mary. It was her fault that Jack was like this. It wasn't supposed to happen. They were just going to have a little fun.

Mary kept a vigilant watch over her brother by his bedside. She wanted her brother back, he needed to wake up. He needed to hug her and tell her that everything would be okay. But he was still asleep in his bed, not even moving. If it wasn't for the slight movement of his breathing, the Princess would've thought that he was already dead.

Of course, she couldn't stay in her brother's room the whole time; she had other things to do. No matter how much she wanted to be with Jack and make sure he was fine. She stood from her chair and buried herself in the covers of her brother's bed right beside him. Mary then gave him a tight hug and left the room a few minutes later.

If Mary wasn't so focused on hoping that her brother would be fine and reassuring herself that he would, maybe she would have noticed his decreasing temperature.

* * *

Jack didn't know where he was. He was in a castle, that he knew, but it was nothing like the one he lived in in Tanglewood. He was in some sort of golden ballroom, but it was empty. Even when he walked through the massive doors that led to an also empty hallway. It was devoid of signs that anyone else was in the palace.

Jack gave an annoyed sigh and continued walking down the spacious hall. He suddenly realized that he no memory of how he even got into the ballroom. The last thing the Prince remembered was going ice skating with his sister. It suddenly hit him that he fell through the thin cracks in the ice. Was he… dead?

A sight of movement from the corner of his eye abruptly disrupted his thoughts. The movement halted once he stopped walking. Jack fully turned around and saw nothing. There wasn't anything else in hall except for him and his shadows. Wait… shadows? Aren't humans supposed to only have ONE shadow?

A spark of fear jolted in him and he ran. He had no idea where he was going or what he was running from but he was terrified. Humans normally possess a fear of the unknown, and Jack had no idea what he saw. The prince didn't even turn around to confirm that he was even being chased at all, he just had to _go_.

He ran past something slouched with its back to the wall "Oh God, is that a body? OH GOD." Oh great something else to add to his panic. What was going to happen to him? Was he going to die for sure this time? Was he already dead and this was some sort of Hell?

As the Prince progressed through the hall, the vibrant gold became faded and dull. Once he reached the end of the hall, he pushed through two doors. He ran into the middle of a meeting. The doors closed behind him and there were no signs of the thing chasing him.

Figures that Jack guessed were people of power were gathered around a large rounded table. He cautiously started walking around the table, but no one seemed to notice him. Their attention was focused on the current speaker- a giant rabbit?

"The Dream Pirates possess a mirror unlike anything from your Constellations. It's an evil object that must either be destroyed or put into the hands of an individual who can ensure that the mirror's powers will never be used." the rabbit told the congregation. "The mirror possesses the ability to show only the evil of the world. If the Fearlings broke the mirror into pieces, who knows what the shards could do to someone stabbed or pricked with it."

Hushed voices were raised, all filled with concern and questions about this strange mirror that the rabbit was talking about. One man's voice rose above all the others, "Aster? How do we know that the Fearlings will plan something like what you're talking about?"

The giant rabbit, Aster, straightened his posture before answering, "Ah! I know because I have seen it happen. Or will see it happen. It is a bit confusing I suppose. I assume you all know that Pookas have the ability to travel in time?" he paused to look at the nods of the men, women, and creatures at the table. "In the far, or close, future, a shard of the cursed mirror will pierce the heart of a Prince. The Fearlings were the cause of this, the Prince's heart then hardened and he brought devastation to the land. This I know, because in my travels in time and space I have seen it."

"Is there any way to prevent it from happening?" the same man asked.

"I haven't traveled that far in that space to see if it was stopped. I have told you all that I know, my priority is making sure that it never happens at all."

Jack was suspicious of Aster, he felt like the giant rabbit wasn't telling his audience everything about Dream Pirates, whatever Dream Pirates were. He gave a rabbit a frown, it didn't matter what he did anyway. From what the Prince observed, no one could see him, so he was free to do what he wanted. What caught Jack off guard was that right after he made a face at Aster, the rabbit seemed to look right at him.

"It looks like we have an unwanted guest."

Jack froze.

He was trying to think of excuses in his head that wouldn't get him imprisoned or killed when Aster threw a –wait is that an egg?- at something behind Jack. Shadows came from every corner of the room and what Jack guessed were Dream Pirates and what he recognized as Fearlings from books rose out of the darkness. It looked like a brawl was going to break out, and Jack ran out back into the hall to avoid being caught in crossfire.

He turned around to take one last look at the scene, and again noticed that the rabbit, Aster, was looking right at him. Jack couldn't pinpoint what emotion the rabbit was looking at him with, but it didn't look like anything good.

A Fearling appeared in front of his face, and he pushed out his hand in defense. Suddenly, there was a blast and the Fearling and space around it was covered in ice. Jack withdrew his outstretched arm and stared at the frozen Fearling in shock. "How…? Did I do that?"

Everyone else's attentions were also on the suddenly iced-up Fearling. Jack looked from his hand to Aster. The rabbit was yet again looking at Jack with that strange look. However, it seemed that Aster was the only one who could see Jack, aside from the Fearlings and Dream Pirates.

They stared and Jack stared back.

Then he ran.

And

He woke up.

* * *

Jack was shaken by the things he saw in his dream. Was it even a dream? The Prince was relieved to see that he was in his own room but immediately noticed a few differences. The room was much colder than it should be, frost was growing on the inside of his windows, the walls, the floor, everything. The Prince put a hand on his forehead and found that he felt almost as cold as the snow he played in.

Jack didn't realize that his appearance was altered until he looked in the mirror. His hairs at the roots were starting to turn white. For sure it wasn't because of old age, he was only fifteen! Stress wasn't the answer too, the Prince was far too laidback to get overcome with stress. His hair wasn't the only thing that changed, his eyes were changing too. His eyes were still a hazelnut brown, but the centers of his irises were now a vibrant blue.

Jack slammed his hands on the dresser, trying to think of why his appearance was changing and why the room was so cold. He just needed answers. He made a mental note to see if there was any "Aster" or cursed mirror mentioned in any of the books in the library.

Something was definitely wrong when he saw snowflakes falling. The room grew even colder and his floor was now covered in a thin blanket of snow. "_This is impossible! There is just no way this could be happening." _The Prince hushed to himself.

Belief is a powerful thing, but Jack didn't believe that he held the ability to turn his room into the frozen mess it was becoming.

The Prince sank down to the floor and became overwhelmed with dread. What would happen if his family saw him like this? The people of the kingdom, what would they think? Would everything think he was a monster? Would he be killed? Would he be experimented on? _What if he hurt someone?_ How was he supposed to continue living like this? He was trapped.

* * *

Nathaniel was walking down the hall to his son's room when he felt a cold breeze. He shrugged and brushed it off as it being winter. One of the servants must've accidentally left a crack of a window open. The King worried for his son, like any father would. He missed seeing his son with a smile on his face. Jack's blank face as he was unconscious made him looked like he was dead. And that was something Nathaniel didn't want to happen.

When the King opened the doors to the Prince's room he was greeted with a sight he didn't expect. A gust of cold air ran past him and the room was covered in snow and ice. Sitting down with his back to the wall and hands close to his chest, sat Jack.

"…Jack?" Nathaniel asked with a careful tone. Jack still seemed startled at the sound of his voice. The Prince curled into himself even more. "Jackson, is everything alright? What is going on?"

"Dad?" Jack rasped, "I… I don't know. I'm scared." Nathaniel felt the same way. The last time he heard his son like that was when he was still a little kid. Jack hadn't been scared since he was a small child, he always laughed in the face of fear. This was not the brave and playful Prince Jackson of Tanglewood in front of the King. Instead it was his little boy from all those years ago who was scared of the terrors of the night. Nathaniel sat down next to his son and gave him a reassuring hug. "Son, things are going to be okay. We're going to fix this and make it work."

If only the King knew how wrong he was.

* * *

Jack's awakening was still kept a secret. No one knew except for the King, who was anxiously working on a plan to hide his son's new powers. From what they gathered, ever since Jack fell through the ice, he was able to wield the powers of winter. They both didn't know how he acquired this skill, but they were controlled with Jack's emotions and derived through his hands.

Nathaniel searched through his son's closet for gloves. Jack rarely wore them, he enjoyed the cold. But now it would be an issue. If he wanted to hide his powers, he needed to prevent his newfound powers from coming through.

"No one can know about this, right? I'm never gonna be the same."

The King turned around to look at his son. "Jack, if you want to continue as if things are normal, you have to keep it a secret."

"Dad… what if I end up hurting someone?"

"You won't." Nathaniel, finally finding a pair of gloves that his son wouldn't call too tacky or complain about, went over to sit by his son on his bed. The gloves were just the right shade of blue, Jack's favorite color, and their fabric wasn't too thick or thin. They would work in preventing Jack's powers from going through.

"Conceal it." The King said while his son began to put the gloves on. If Jack wanted to continue like his life was normal, no one could know about what he could do. Nathaniel wasn't sure how others would react to it. Fear would overrule reason. The only way Nathaniel was mostly in control of the situation was because his love of his son had more power than fear.

"Don't feel it." The Prince nodded in confirmation. "Don't let it show."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: yeah not really satisfied with this chapter and I'm still planning out how this whole AU will work later on because I've hit a road block at the moment for where I'm up at... and I'm watching Frozen on Friday! So let's see how much I can incorporate from Frozen in this AU cuz this is still mainly centered around GoC

* * *

The news that Prince Jack was finally awake spread fast around the kingdom. It was a bit odd that the Prince stayed within the castle. Normally, no matter how badly he was injured, he would still take time out of his day to go out and play with the children of the kingdom. Though, it was shrugged off and excused for the Prince having a traumatic experience.

Once Mary heard the news, she rushed to her brother's room. "Jack!" before the Prince could fully turn around he found himself tackled to the ground in a tight hug. "Jack, you're awake!" Mary squealed. Her brother wasn't unconscious anymore and he was okay. She missed him dearly and now they could play every day again and nothing would be bad.

"Hey there, Little Lady." Jack wrapped his arms around his sister and squeezed her reassuringly. "Hope you didn't get too bored while I was dozing off!" he then sat up and bopped her lightly on her nose. However, he seemed hesitant at it. Mary wondered if there was something on her face, but instead of asking she answered his question.

"I was too worried about you to get bored," Mary noticed her brother's slight frown at that, "but you missed a bunch of fun things, Sleeping Beauty!" Mary tried to get the conversation away from Jack's condition; he didn't seem to like being reminded of it.

"Sleeping Beauty?!"

* * *

The siblings spent the morning with Mary telling Jack about all of the games he missed out on and about her days while he was comatose. Neither touched on the subject of ice skating- Mary because she didn't know if Jack was okay with it, and Jack because he was worried that it remind Mary of bad memories.

Mary had to leave to do her studies, and gave Jack yet another hug before she left. Jack smiled at her as she left his room and closed the doors. Once she left, his smile disappeared. There was no way that he could continue acting like nothing was wrong. Something was wrong. And it was him.

Mary's face was something that he could still recognize, but there was something that looked like a black crack on the side of her right cheek. Even her voice seemed a little off. When she waved bye to him, the nails on her hand were a bit sharp. That wasn't the Mary he knew, something was wrong with his vision.

The Prince cursed at acquired powers, if only he checked the ice or decided not to go ice skating that his fear of hurting those he loved. Now he possessed the powers of winter, which didn't even bring him a sense of wonder. Winter was his favorite season and he expressed how cool it would be to have the powers of the season. Not only did he have icy powers, but now his vision showed people differently.

Jack took a trip to one of the many gardens of the castle. After making sure that he was the only one in the garden, he began to practice his powers. He tried to convince himself that if he could control his powers, then he wouldn't have so much fear in his heart.

He removed his gloves and took a deep breath, "Okay, Jack, you can do this… Just calm down! This is gonna work!" No matter how much he tried to assure himself the fear continued to grow. That didn't help at all, his powers were linked to his emotions. Once he was sure he was calm enough, he tried making a simple snowflake.

A blast burst from his hand, leading to something totally the opposite of what he wanted. The Prince would've been cursing in annoyance if he wasn't so shocked by what came out instead. Sharp spikes of ice were embedded into a nearby tree and the ground in front of him. The dread in his heart grew even more.

After a couple more times at trying to do something that was not a terrifying blast of ice, Jack gave up. He couldn't get rid of his fear, it was becoming too much for him. His hope that everything was going to turn out fine was rapidly diminishing. There was no way he could be able to control his powers. He was going to end up hurting someone. Everyone would be scared of him if they knew what he could do. He would probably be exiled from his own home. Jack crouched down to the ground on the verge of tears, reaching down to get his gloves.

He had to distance himself from his loved ones to protect them.

It was the only choice he had.

He didn't want to be a monster. He didn't want to be what parents told their kids to be wary of at night. He was just a boy, he was only fifteen, and he wasn't anything like the Fearlings that tormented the world. But he was starting to believe that he was, and belief is a powerful thing.

* * *

Nathaniel noted that Jack was acting strangely at dinner. His son was darting his eyes at various servants and something even at his family. There was a slight look of fear in his eyes as they progress from person to person. The King took it as Jack being paranoid of his powers accidentally showing. Other than Jack's fleeting looks nothing what out of the ordinary.

After dinner, the King found himself trying to comfort Jack in his room. Jack's voice was strained "I can't control them, Dad, I just can't. I tried and they're getting worse instead." Nathaniel didn't know what to do. There weren't any guidelines on how to comfort your son after he gets supernatural powers. He felt powerless as his son's despair worsened. "We'll find a way."

"We won't. It's impossible."

That reply shocked Nathaniel, that wasn't something that Jack would say. Jack was always looked towards the bright side. He rejected the suggestion of anything turning out bad. But here, this Jack was different. Something was wrong with Jack, and it wasn't just his powers.

"… Jack, have some hope."

"I'm _trying_." Jack hissed, looking up to face his father, but froze. His father's eyes resembled black coals.

Nathaniel noticed the look of terror on his son's face and frowned, "Jackson, what's wrong?"

"How about what's wrong with you? Have you looked in a mirror recently?" the Prince was trying to hide the panic in his voice, but failed.

"Something's wrong with me?" the King looked to the mirror a few feet away. There was nothing wrong with his appearance.

"Your eyes. They're black." Jack nervously answered.

"Jack, there's nothing wrong with my eyes. They're still brown."

"No, they're black they're completely black something is wrong."

"Jack, is there anything that you want to tell me?"

Jack's eyes darted to the king and mirror and back. He hesitated for a moment before revealing that since the morning, he was seeing people wrong. They were slowly becoming the stuff of nightmares and he was the only witness to it.

"Dad, what's wrong with me?"

Nathaniel didn't have an answer for his son.

…

Outside in the same garden the Prince tried to tame his powers, stood a cloaked figure. The figure looked at the distorted sculptures of ice with a smile on its face. Things were going smoothly. The boy would bring terror to the kingdom and with its influence, the world. Fear was much stronger than anything wonder, hope, and dreams could bring.

The figure could feel the fear radiating off the Prince from where he was standing. The figure laughed to itself and wondered why it didn't plan to do this sooner. It would've prevented unwanted obstacles in its goal.

…

It was almost midnight when Jack snuck out of his room. He needed answers for what was happening to him. He made his way to the spacious library in the castle. He hoped that he would be able to find at least something on the "Aster" character or the cursed mirror he saw in his dream.

The dim lights of the library gave it a mysterious and haunted glow. Jack took a deep breath and began to search through the section containing lore from the Golden Age. Of course, there was nothing supporting that the Golden Age was a real time period, but the Prince had to try everything.

After an hour or two of flipping through book after book, Jack found something about a mirror. It was worth a shot.

Apparently this mirror was from the maybe not so fictional Golden Age and was in the hands of things called Dream Pirates, Jack remembered them from his dream. The mirror was forged from cold shadows- that explained a lot- and showed the worst of the world. So that was the answer. The Prince was a bit relieved at the information, at least he knew about the mirror. It was probably a part of the mirror that somehow ending up becoming a part of him. Unfortunately, the book held no information on what would happen if a part of it ending up fusing with something living. Or how to rid of it.

Now came the next step, looking for the Aster character, the bizarre giant rabbit from Jack's dream. Minutes became hours and Jack still did not find anything on the rabbit. However, he did find something about what he guessed was the rabbit's species. They were called Pookas and had the ability to travel through time and space.

That too, Jack remembered from his dream. And then he realized something.

Aster told his audience about a prince that would bring devastation to the land because of the mirror's terrible gifts. He said that he knew it would happen because he saw them firsthand. And he saw them firsthand because he was a Pooka and Pookas could travel in time and space.

Jack's horror grew and all of his hope was quickly fading away.

He was the prince that Aster was talking about. He would torment the land with his powers. He wanted to dismiss it as a coincidence but the truth was staring at him in the face. People resembling those of nightmares that only he could see, his powers of ice and snow, his dream, and the information of the books all supported what he feared would happen to him.

There was no denying it, he was going to become like the terrors of the night. If he believed it, it would happen, and there was no way to not believe it.

He had to prove to himself that he wouldn't though, no matter how little hope he had left. He didn't want to hurt those he loved. Though his love for them was also fading, it must be an affect from the mirror. He had to make things alright while he still could.

With that, Jack said goodbye to a life of fun and games and hello to one filled with responsibilities and loneliness.

* * *

"Jack! Do you wanna go out and play? We can go build a snowman! Do you wanna?" Mary shouted out as her knocked on her brother's door.

"Sorry, Mary, no I'm busy."

Busy? Mary's face became a confused frown. Jack was never busy! Even if he was, he'd shirk off his duties in favor of fun. Jack ran away from responsibility, this wasn't him.

"Jaaaccckkk? Please!" Mary pleaded, Jack rarely ever said no to her. Jack's tone of voice was different too, it wasn't playful. Instead, it was almost harsh.

"Mary. Go away, please." The last word sounded desperate, those words from the other side of the doors was enough to convince the Princess to leave her brother alone. She had all the time in the world to play with her brother, she could handle another day of not playing with him.

"Oh. Okay."

Mary dejectedly walked away from the doors that separated herself from her brother. With that, she wandered away from the doors to go find someone else to play with.

On the other side of the doors, Jack sat at his desk learning how to become a proper ruler, when he was eighteen he would have to rule Tanglewood if anything happened to his parents. He had only three years left to enjoy his childhood and he couldn't even do that. Ever since he woke up he felt like he was a bird trapped in a cage.


End file.
